1 Kings 4, 5, Ephesians 2, Ezekiel 35, Psalm 85

1 Kings 4, 5,

1 So King Solomon ruled over all Israel.
 
2 And these were his chief officials: Azariah son of Zadok-the priest;
 
3 Elihoreph and Ahijah, sons of Shisha-secretaries; Jehoshaphat son of Ahilud-recorder;
 
4 Benaiah son of Jehoiada-commander in chief; Zadok and Abiathar-priests;
 
5 Azariah son of Nathan-in charge of the district officers; Zabud son of Nathan-a priest and personal adviser to the king;
 
6 Ahishar-in charge of the palace; Adoniram son of Abda-in charge of forced labor.
 
7 Solomon also had twelve district governors over all Israel, who supplied provisions for the king and the royal household. Each one had to provide supplies for one month in the year.
 
8 These are their names: Ben-Hur-in the hill country of Ephraim;
 
9 Ben-Deker-in Makaz, Shaalbim, Beth Shemesh and Elon Bethhanan;
 
10 Ben-Hesed-in Arubboth (Socoh and all the land of Hepher were his);
 
11 Ben-Abinadab-in Naphoth Dor (he was married to Taphath daughter of Solomon);
 
12 Baana son of Ahilud-in Taanach and Megiddo, and in all of Beth Shan next to Zarethan below Jezreel, from Beth Shan to Abel Meholah across to Jokmeam;
 
13 Ben-Geber-in Ramoth Gilead (the settlements of Jair son of Manasseh in Gilead were his, as well as the district of Argob in Bashan and its sixty large walled cities with bronze gate bars);
 
14 Ahinadab son of Iddo-in Mahanaim;
 
15 Ahimaaz-in Naphtali (he had married Basemath daughter of Solomon);
 
16 Baana son of Hushai-in Asher and in Aloth;
 
17 Jehoshaphat son of Paruah-in Issachar;
 
18 Shimei son of Ela-in Benjamin;
 
19 Geber son of Uri-in Gilead (the country of Sihon king of the Amorites and the country of Og king of Bashan). He was the only governor over the district.
 
20 The people of Judah and Israel were as numerous as the sand on the seashore; they ate, they drank and they were happy.
 
21 And Solomon ruled over all the kingdoms from the River to the land of the Philistines, as far as the border of Egypt. These countries brought tribute and were Solomon's subjects all his life.
 
22 Solomon's daily provisions were thirty cors of fine flour and sixty cors of meal,
 
23 ten head of stall-fed cattle, twenty of pasture-fed cattle and a hundred sheep and goats, as well as deer, gazelles, roebucks and choice fowl.
 
24 For he ruled over all the kingdoms west of the River, from Tiphsah to Gaza, and had peace on all sides.
 
25 During Solomon's lifetime Judah and Israel, from Dan to Beersheba, lived in safety, each man under his own vine and fig tree.
 
26 Solomon had four thousand stalls for chariot horses, and twelve thousand horses.
 
27 The district officers, each in his month, supplied provisions for King Solomon and all who came to the king's table. They saw to it that nothing was lacking.
 
28 They also brought to the proper place their quotas of barley and straw for the chariot horses and the other horses.
 
29 God gave Solomon wisdom and very great insight, and a breadth of understanding as measureless as the sand on the seashore.
 
30 Solomon's wisdom was greater than the wisdom of all the men of the East, and greater than all the wisdom of Egypt.
 
31 He was wiser than any other man, including Ethan the Ezrahite-wiser than Heman, Calcol and Darda, the sons of Mahol. And his fame spread to all the surrounding nations.
 
32 He spoke three thousand proverbs and his songs numbered a thousand and five.
 
33 He described plant life, from the cedar of Lebanon to the hyssop that grows out of walls. He also taught about animals and birds, reptiles and fish.
 
34 Men of all nations came to listen to Solomon's wisdom, sent by all the kings of the world, who had heard of his wisdom.
 

1 When Hiram king of Tyre heard that Solomon had been anointed king to succeed his father David, he sent his envoys to Solomon, because he had always been on friendly terms with David.
 
2 Solomon sent back this message to Hiram:
 
3 "You know that because of the wars waged against my father David from all sides, he could not build a temple for the Name of the LORD his God until the LORD put his enemies under his feet.
 
4 But now the LORD my God has given me rest on every side, and there is no adversary or disaster.
 
5 I intend, therefore, to build a temple for the Name of the LORD my God, as the LORD told my father David, when he said, 'Your son whom I will put on the throne in your place will build the temple for my Name.'
 
6 "So give orders that cedars of Lebanon be cut for me. My men will work with yours, and I will pay you for your men whatever wages you set. You know that we have no one so skilled in felling timber as the Sidonians."
 
7 When Hiram heard Solomon's message, he was greatly pleased and said, "Praise be to the LORD today, for he has given David a wise son to rule over this great nation."
 
8 So Hiram sent word to Solomon: "I have received the message you sent me and will do all you want in providing the cedar and pine logs.
 
9 My men will haul them down from Lebanon to the sea, and I will float them in rafts by sea to the place you specify. There I will separate them and you can take them away. And you are to grant my wish by providing food for my royal household."
 
10 In this way Hiram kept Solomon supplied with all the cedar and pine logs he wanted,
 
11 and Solomon gave Hiram twenty thousand cors of wheat as food for his household, in addition to twenty thousand baths, of pressed olive oil. Solomon continued to do this for Hiram year after year.
 
12 The LORD gave Solomon wisdom, just as he had promised him. There were peaceful relations between Hiram and Solomon, and the two of them made a treaty.
 
13 King Solomon conscripted laborers from all Israel-thirty thousand men.
 
14 He sent them off to Lebanon in shifts of ten thousand a month, so that they spent one month in Lebanon and two months at home. Adoniram was in charge of the forced labor.
 
15 Solomon had seventy thousand carriers and eighty thousand stonecutters in the hills,
 
16 as well as thirty-three hundred foremen who supervised the project and directed the workmen.
 
17 At the king's command they removed from the quarry large blocks of quality stone to provide a foundation of dressed stone for the temple.
 
18 The craftsmen of Solomon and Hiram and the men of Gebal cut and prepared the timber and stone for the building of the temple.
 

Ephesians 2,

1 As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins,
 
2 in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient.
 
3 All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath.
 
4 But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy,
 
5 made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions-it is by grace you have been saved.
 
6 And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus,
 
7 in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus.
 
8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith-and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God-
 
9 not by works, so that no one can boast.
 
10 For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.
 
11 Therefore, remember that formerly you who are Gentiles by birth and called "uncircumcised" by those who call themselves "the circumcision" (that done in the body by the hands of men)-
 
12 remember that at that time you were separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world.
 
13 But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near through the blood of Christ.
 
14 For he himself is our peace, who has made the two one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility,
 
15 by abolishing in his flesh the law with its commandments and regulations. His purpose was to create in himself one new man out of the two, thus making peace,
 
16 and in this one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility.
 
17 He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near.
 
18 For through him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit.
 
19 Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and aliens, but fellow citizens with God's people and members of God's household,
 
20 built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone.
 
21 In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord.
 
22 And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit.
 

Ezekiel 35,

1 The word of the LORD came to me:
 
2 "Son of man, set your face against Mount Seir; prophesy against it
 
3 and say: 'This is what the Sovereign LORD says: I am against you, Mount Seir, and I will stretch out my hand against you and make you a desolate waste.
 
4 I will turn your towns into ruins and you will be desolate. Then you will know that I am the LORD.
 
5 " 'Because you harbored an ancient hostility and delivered the Israelites over to the sword at the time of their calamity, the time their punishment reached its climax,
 
6 therefore as surely as I live, declares the Sovereign LORD, I will give you over to bloodshed and it will pursue you. Since you did not hate bloodshed, bloodshed will pursue you.
 
7 I will make Mount Seir a desolate waste and cut off from it all who come and go.
 
8 I will fill your mountains with the slain; those killed by the sword will fall on your hills and in your valleys and in all your ravines.
 
9 I will make you desolate forever; your towns will not be inhabited. Then you will know that I am the LORD.
 
10 " 'Because you have said, "These two nations and countries will be ours and we will take possession of them," even though I the LORD was there,
 
11 therefore as surely as I live, declares the Sovereign LORD, I will treat you in accordance with the anger and jealousy you showed in your hatred of them and I will make myself known among them when I judge you.
 
12 Then you will know that I the LORD have heard all the contemptible things you have said against the mountains of Israel. You said, "They have been laid waste and have been given over to us to devour."
 
13 You boasted against me and spoke against me without restraint, and I heard it.
 
14 This is what the Sovereign LORD says: While the whole earth rejoices, I will make you desolate.
 
15 Because you rejoiced when the inheritance of the house of Israel became desolate, that is how I will treat you. You will be desolate, O Mount Seir, you and all of Edom. Then they will know that I am the LORD.' "
 

Psalm 85

1 You showed favor to your land, O LORD; you restored the fortunes of Jacob.
 
2 You forgave the iniquity of your people and covered all their sins. Selah
 
3 You set aside all your wrath and turned from your fierce anger.
 
4 Restore us again, O God our Savior, and put away your displeasure toward us.
 
5 Will you be angry with us forever? Will you prolong your anger through all generations?
 
6 Will you not revive us again, that your people may rejoice in you?
 
7 Show us your unfailing love, O LORD, and grant us your salvation.
 
8 I will listen to what God the LORD will say; he promises peace to his people, his saints-but let them not return to folly.
 
9 Surely his salvation is near those who fear him, that his glory may dwell in our land.
 
10 Love and faithfulness meet together; righteousness and peace kiss each other.
 
11 Faithfulness springs forth from the earth, and righteousness looks down from heaven.
 
12 The LORD will indeed give what is good, and our land will yield its harvest.
 
13 Righteousness goes before him and prepares the way for his steps.